Pneumatic apparatus for cleaning, conveying, and recovering lint



June 26,;1923.. 1,460,220

G. ALLEN PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR CLEANING; CONVEYING, AND RIB-COVERING'LINT Original Filed Feb; '12 1921 Inventor: Gilleb and Allen,

Patented June 26, 1923.

GEORGE L. ALLEN, OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR CLEANING, CONVEYING, AND RECOVEBING LIN'I.

Application filed February 12, 1921, Serial No. 444,322. Renewed May 11,1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that GEORGE L. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Savannah in the county of Chatham and State of Georgia, hasinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Apparatus forCleaning, Conveying, and Recovering Lint, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to pneumatic apparatus for conveying, cleaning andrecovering cotton lint, and it consists in the novel features andarrangementof parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Under prevailing methods andprocesses for recovering lint several gradesof lint are obtained. In light linting a very high grade of lint issecured, as the seeds are not forced hard against the saws and no parti-20 cles of the skin of the seed are cut off an mixed with the lint.

Light linting, however, is not economical as it leaves a quantity oflint on the seed,

thus losing the lint and rendering the seed 2! cake (the residue that isleft after the oil is pressed out) less valuable.

The ideal condition is close linting, whereby practicallyall of the lintis taken oil the seed, provided, however, small particles of 0 seeds,skins and the foreign matter are removed from the lint before the sameis baled, and the lint is left clean. This cleaning is accomplished inthe present apparatus as will be shortly described.

Also heretofore in recovering lint by pneumatic means, a relativelylarge amount of power is consumed as from each linting machine a taperedhood is used which is connected to a small branch pipe which in timeenters the -main duct. The highest mechanical efliciencythat is obtainedfrom an exhauster o1 the type necessary for use in an installation ofthis kind for recovering lint is about 60%, and from this it will beseen that considerable power is necessary to convey the lint as fifty toseventy cubic feet of air are necessary to convey a pound of lint in aconveying system.

Furthermore, where a hood for each linter is used and a branch pipe, theresistance of the pipe and ducts enters greatly into the ower consumedin the system. The average linter brush throws ofi' about 1000 cubicfeet of air per minute, and if this air can be used in drawing the lintinto the suction system with the least possible frictional resistance, aconsiderable amount of power for the exhauster may be saved.

An objectthereiore of the present invengate with relation to the planeof the bot tom wall of the lint duct. Furthermore, the lint ductand gateare made to extend the full transverse breadth of the linter andcommunicate with the horizontal section of the main pipe line.

The object or" forming the gates with adjustable ends in the lint ductis so that the flow of the air from the linter will be uniform and notgreater at the near end of the linter than at the far end.

Furthermore by providing ducts in this manner the air can be soregulated that there will be an even flow of the air and lint throughthe gate duct and so that the.

air may be regulated as not to pull the heav: ier particles, such asmotes, etc. with the lint to the pipe line.

A further object of the invention is to provide for felting the lint andfor delivering the felted lint to the press in proper condition forbaling, that is to say, the lint fibre will be devoid of lumps, knots,curls, dust, etc.

With these and numerous other objects in View the invention consists incertain new and novel arrangement and combination of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and pointed out in' the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l'is a transverse sectional view ofa linter with the apparatus applied and showing the same in transversesection;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational View of the linter in which a portion ofthe apparatus is indicated in dotted lines.

As illustrated in the accompanying drawing, the linter 1 is of the usualpattern and includes a dofling brush 2 mounted for rotation in the usualmanner. The conveyor 3 is located below the linter 1 and is disposedtransversely thereof as is usual in linters. A small change, however, isshownin the linter in that an apron i is provided and may be adjustedupon its hinge so that it may be disposed at a desired angle withrelation to a horizontal line, and any form of suitable means may beprovided for holding the apron in its desired adjusted position.

Another apron 5 is also adjustably mounted in the body of the linter ata point to one side and below the center of the dotting brush, and asshown is located at the opposite side oi the dofiing brush and that ofthe apron l. Furthermore the apron 5 is of greater area than the apron4, but it likewise may be adjusted upon its hinge so that it may bedisposed at any desired angle.

A duct 6 is horizontally disposed and locatedin the rear portion of thelinter and extends the full transverse breadth of the body. This duct 6is provided on its top wall with a hood 7 and the inner portion of thetop wall of the duct is downwardly curved as at 8 and forms a scraperagainst which the bristles of the dotting brush strike as the brushrevolves. A gate 9 is slidably 1nounted for vertical adjustment in thehood 7 and is provided with a beveled lower edge 10, this gate extendingthe full transverse breadth of the body of the linter. Screw bolts 11pass from the top of this hood 7 and have threaded engagement with thegate 9 in the vicinity of the ends thereof. Two bolts are employed sothat each end portion of the gate may be adjusted independently of theother. The beveled surface of the lower edge of the is disposed towardsthe dofling brush as best shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The application of this gate having its ends adjustable with relation tothe lower portion of the duct is very important, for it this gate werenot adjustable at its ends it will of course be understood that whensuction was formed to pull the air and lint through the duct, thetendency would be for the greatest suction to be at one end of the ductonly, that is the near end, and it the suction were made strong enoughto make an even draft through all parts of the duct, it would also drawthe motes and other foreign matter therethrough. Byproviding a gate thatis adjustable at both its ends, the inner end may be slightly lowered sothat the draft throughout the transverse area will be even and the lintfully drawn from the linter and without being too strong to draw in theforeign material.

At its outer end the duct 6 communicates with the horizontally disposedpipe section 12 and is disposed in horizontal alignment with the mediallongitudinal dimension thereof.

It will be understood that when a suction draft is created through thepipe section 12, the lint bearing seedswill be passing through thelinter or linters, and the lint will be removed from the saws by thedotting brush 2 and cast towards the aprons l and 5, the denuded seedswill fall into the conveyor 3 and be disposed of in-the usual manner.

The lint will be carried by the draft or suction up along the apron 5,through the duct 6, along the lower edge of the gate 9 and enter thepipe section 12. More air will be drawn through the duct 6 than thatwhich is thrown off by the dotting brush and therefore some air passesupwardly throughthe space between the lower edges of the'aprons l and 5.The space between the lower edges of the aprons is sufficient to permitthe passage of a volume of air suiiicient to sustain the lint andprevent its falling but the current of air is not strong enough toprevent the falling of the motes as above mentioned.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have constructed an apparatuswhich may be used with any form of linter and any number of them, itnecessitating but a slight change in the linters in the form of aprons,heretofore mentioned, and the providing of a gate which mey be adjustedat either end so that the fiow of air from the linter may be madeuniform, that is the gate may be so regulated that the suctionthrough'one side will not be greater than at the other. i' urthermorethe suction for the tar linter may be made the same as for the nearlinter. Many slight changes might be made in the apparatus without inany way departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Havingthus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. In apparatus of the characterdescribed a pipe line,a linter, a duct connecting the linter with the pipe line, a gatelocated in the duct and means for independentlyadjusting the endportions of the gate that the lower edge thereof may be-disposed at adesired angle to the plane of the lower wall of the duct. I 2. Inapparatus of the character described a pipe line, a linter, a ductconnecting the linter with the pipe line, a gate located in the duct andhaving a lower bevelled edge and means for independently adjustingtheend portions of the gate that the lower edge thereof may be disposed ata desired angle to the plane of the lower wall of the duct.

3. In apparatus of the character described a linter including a rotatingdo'fier, a pipe line, a duct connecting the linter with the pipe line,aprons pivotally mounted in the linter at points below and at oppositesides of the doiter, means for securing the aprons at adjustedpositions, one of the aprons being pivotally connected with the duct,the last mentioned apron being of greater area than the apron located atthe opposite side or" the dofier.

ill)

4;. In apparatus of the character described a linter, a horizontallydisposed pipe line section, a duct connecting the interior of the linterWith the pipe line and extending 5 transversely across the linter, agate located in the duct and means for Vertically adjusting the oppositeend portions of thegate in dependently of each other.

5. In apparatus of the character described 10 a linter, a horizontallydisposed pipe line section, a duct connecting the interior of the linterwith the pipe line and extending transversely across the linter, agatelocated in the duct and having a bevelled lower edge and means forvertically adjusting the opposite end portions of the gate independentlyof each other.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

GEORGE L. ALLEN.

